Monthly Archives: January 2011

I have not kept up with my blog at all the past few months. For those who have stuck with me, thanks. I am truly sorry for not sharing my story with the world.

I will be writing much, much more frequently in the coming days and months. I would appreciate it very much if you would keeping coming back to check it out.

I have been honestly trying to find my little niche on the internet. What are the things that I wish to be saying the most? What stirs my soul? What must I continue promoting with my life? I am constantly hearing that bloggers should write about the things that make them passionate. They should write about one thing and do that thing really well.

I am here to say that I can’t do that. I can’t just write about one thing. I’m not built like that. I am passionate about so many things. So I have decided to narrow down what this blog will be about to just a few things.

Here they are:

Worship/Arts – This area will cover all of the things that relate to leading worship, what worship for the church should look like, how my church is experiencing God in our unique setting. This area will also explore some of the theories that I have on the arts and how they can be related to worship in a service. We will also cover some examples of other churches and how they do worship. I would love to turn this into a podcast or maybe at least something that hosts interviews with worship leaders from around the world.

The Church/Leadership – This area will be the one that covers any leadership principles that I cover (which will likely be rare since I know so little and there is already so much out there) and more importantly, the area of the church and how it is truly the hope of the world. This area of the blog will likely take a back seat to many of the other areas since I am a lowly man in a small church in a small section of our city.

My family/ experiences – This area will be my favorite. I will likely try and only write about my family only once or twice a week unless it has direct relation to another area of the blog. I love my family more than they, I, or you will ever know and I will write about them only as I deem appropriate.

Books/reviews– Since I read 100 books last year, this area is clearly very important to me. I continue to receive books every month and will write about them and share them with you in a better fashion. Last year, I simply read the books and did a little bit of recap of them. Now I am going to begin reviewing them more often for you to decide whether you wish to read them or not.

Music/links – I am constantly finding new music and some fun links that I wish to share with everyone and in the past, very rarely did I share them. Now I wish to change all that and let you know what is inspiring me and encouraging me.

From now on, I will hit these areas quite regularly. I hope that you will continue this journey with me because honestly, I feel like I have a lot to say and truly wish to build a community that encourages, strengthens, and communicates the truth that we all need to know and live out more faithfully.

I pray that this blog will inspire you to find more creative endeavors and more life-changing paths.

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Here is a logo that I am working on for our church. I am trying to find some time to spend on it but I have not yet found it. I will likely put a city in the background to make it more relevant to our purpose and mission. Let me know your thoughts. Too simple? Not a fan of the square?

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I have always respected Shane Claiborne for his audacity to go out in the ways that he believes God is calling him to. I am reading a book called Hipster Christianity by a guy who just might have the most awesome name ever (Brett McCracken) right now and they used a quote from Claiborne that I believe should be shared with you all.

There are those of us who, rather than simply reject pop evangelicalism, want to spread another kind of Christianity, a faith that has much to say about this world as it does about the next. New prophets are rising up who try to change the future, not just predict it. There is a movement bubbling up that goes beyond cynicism and celebrates a new way of living, a generation that stops complaining about the church it sees and becomes the church it dreams of. And this little revolution is irresistible. It is a contagious revolution that dances, laughs, and loves.

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I am not planning on reading as many books in 2011 as I did in 2010 (100) but I am going to be reading as much as I can because 1) I love it and 2) I find that reading helps spark me on to do more.

One of the greatest ways for me to grow as a leader is to learn how other leaders make decisions, both good and bad. One book that piqued my interest as soon as I heard about it was the War for Late Night which talked about Conan and his departure from his longtime network, NBC. This event was all over the news in early 2010 and there were many rumors spread about this but I wanted to find out what really went down.

The book, The War for Late Night, by Bill Carter truly gave me the inside scoop.

I never thought that there would be so much drama on late night tv but with this book, I found out that there is usually a ton going on behind the scenes that will never see the light of day. This book gives you a close-up view as to what went on in 2010 with the whole scandal that reeked of deja vu in late night television.

Just like Bill Carter’s other book, The Late Shift, this one involves Jay Leno and how he used his position as King of Late NIght to position himself into a job that may not have been rightfully his. In 1993 Jay Leno took over the hosting duties of Johnny Carson right out from under Dave Letterman. In this book, Conan took over for Leno and yet within 7 months, Leno was back in that spot. This book covers those events and more. Mr. Carter shows his readers in a very straightforward way all about late night television. He goes over the history of how Conan came to the unexpected TBS, how other comedians treated Leno because of his role in Conan leaving NBC, and how late night became about more than just one or two names but about a ton of comedians on many different networks, both on and off of basic cable.

This is a great book if you want the inside scoop of how TV works behind the scenes. I found this book very fascinating and would recommend it highly to anyone interested in figuring out how the whole Conan situation in 2010 came to be.

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I read this book because I love to read about history, especially by the people who lived it. While I did not agree with a lot of the things that happened during his presidency, I was very intrigued to see what he had to say in his defense of those things. This book gives one a chance to look into the mind of George W. and I found it quite revealing. He gets into the heart of his life as president as well as some of the reasons behind his choices.

This is a very straightforward book with little to argue with. Even though I do not agree with some of the things he did (but there is not anyone whom I agree with entirely, including myself), I found this book very enlightening into the mind of no. 43.

As for the book forging a new path on presidential autobiographies, I do not agree. He basically went through his life through the lens of the decisions that he felt changed his life the most. Very insightful and pretty well written. Recommended for all interested in getting a view into what our presidents go through.